


Middle name Trouble

by edourado



Series: Hell's Kitchen Chronicles [90]
Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Drabble, F/M, Oneshot, Tumblr Prompt, karedevil - Freeform, karedevil baby - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-23
Updated: 2017-10-23
Packaged: 2019-01-21 15:49:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12460956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edourado/pseuds/edourado
Summary: Prompt: Matt comes home from doing his nightly patrol a little bit bruised and accidentally wakes his kid. His kid who inherits too much of Karen's inquiring mind





	Middle name Trouble

**Author's Note:**

> I did not know you guys would like daddy!Matt so much. (I kinda like it too. Hush.)

Matt admits: he doesn’t really like Harlem.

He was all too happy to help Luke. His friend had done him many favors over the years, and he never really collected, so when he asked for Matt’s help, he couldn’t really say no.

And don’t get him wrong, he likes doing it for the sake of doing good, too, that’s why he puts on the mask in the first place, to help people, but damn. The thugs in Harlem are better trained in combat than the ones in Hell’s Kitchen.

When he comes back home, his ribs are throbbing. They’re not broken, but that one kick got him right. He’ll have Claire take a look at him in the morning.

“Shit”, he curses under his breath when he kicks an ambulance toy, the thing going “911! 911!” as it rolls away. Thankfully, it stops soon enough, and he listens for movement in his bedroom.

Nothing. Just her rhythmic breathing, sound asleep. Good.

He wasn’t so lucky with the second bedroom, though.

There’s shuffling, and little feet pat pat patting away from the bed. Quickly, Matt removes his mask and throws a sweater that is resting on the couch over himself, while the bedroom door opposite his and Karen’s opens.

“Daddy?” comes that little voice, sleepy but excited and he can’t help the smile. He could never, ever help it.

“Hi, baby”, he says, turning to face the five year old that owns his heart. “Did I wake you?”

“No”, she says, walking towards him, clutching her teddy bear with her left hand, and inside his arms. He’s kissing her temple when she goes on. “I was just thinking.”

Oh, his little girl.

“What were you thinking about?”

“School. We started meditating this week, but”, she shakes her little head. “It’s nothing like you taught me. All the kids do it wrong.”

“Well, you’ve been doing it a long time. Your friends just started, you have to be a little patient.”

“Yeah, but they keep giggling. They don’t take it seriously.”

He chuckles and almost tries to lift her to sit on his lap, but then his ribs complain again, so he just sits there on the couch, with her standing in front of him.

“Are you just coming home?” she asks, suddenly.

“What’s that?” he asks in turn, buying time.

“Why are you wearing boots?”

“Daddy had to be out a little late tonight, baby.”

“Why?”

Her mother’s child.

“Work.”

“Don’t you work in an office?”

“I do, bu-”

“I thought you were a lawyer.”

Again, he has to laugh, because she has inherited every bit of Karen’s curious mind, never letting go of an opportunity to ask, demand explanations to things she didn’t understand.

“I am a lawyer, honey, but sometimes I have to go some places, to better help my clients.”

“How come?”

“Well”, he says, pulling on her hand until she climbs on the couch by herself and sits by his side. “Sometimes I have to check to see if someone is telling the truth, or to better understand a situation, so I can do a better job in helping them.”

“Oh. That makes sense, I guess.”

They sit there for a minute, Matt’s fingers twirling a lock of her hair, her little feet hanging off the couch.

“Did someone hurt you?”

Matt’s brows raise.

“Why do you ask that?”

“You usually pick me up when you get home. You didn’t, this time, and mommy said that time that you couldn’t do that when you get hurt, remember? When that car hit you?”

‘The car’ had been Danny, who had gotten carried away during a boxing match.

“I remember.”

“So are you hurt now? Who hurt you? What happened?”

“Nothing happened, baby, don’t worry.”

“But-”

“I didn’t pick you up because I’m tired. Daddy’s not hurt.”

To prove his point, he moved to pick her up from his side and place her on his leg. He did it, but failed to mask the wince.

“See?” she pressed, her voice demanding and already a little scared. “You’re hurt, daddy, I know you are!”

“It’s nothing, sweetheart, it was just a little accident earlier.”

“Last week Mark hit Kevin during recess, and Miss Evans said it is not nice to play like that.”

“Miss Evans is right.”

“But then I remember I saw you once, in that place, and you were hitting a man.”

Oh, boy. That was almost a year ago, when Karen stopped by the gym to pick him up. He was not counting on his daughter remembering him in the ring.

“That’s different. That was boxing, it’s a… Controlled sort of fighting.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, there are rules you have to follow. And you only fight people who know how to defend themselves, and understand all the rules, too.”

“So it’s a game?”

She’s five. Are five year olds supposed to have such a sharp attention to details?

“No, not a game. It’s a sport, like baseball. But you have to train really hard to be able to do it, otherwise you can really hurt someone.”

“But you are hurt.”

“It happens, baby.”

“Is this why you’re wearing these clothes? You have to wear special clothes to play-fight - to sport-fight? To keep you from getting hurt?”

Shit. How does he explain the suit?

“I wasn’t fighting right now.”

“Then why are you wearing this?”

“What are you two doing?” came Karen’s voice, hoarse from sleep, from their bedroom door.

“Daddy just got home, mommy”, replied their girl, all too eager to show efficiency. “He’s a little hurt, but don’t worry. He was just poxing earlier.”

“Poxing?” Karen asks, walking to the living room, moving her hair out of her face.

“Boxing, baby”, Matt helps.

“Yes, that.”

“Hmm”. With a yawn, Karen picks her up from Matt’s lap. “You were supposed to be asleep, missy.”

“I know, but I’m stressed”, she says and Matt has to laugh in silence while Karen walks to the kitchen with their girl in her arms.

“You’re stressed”, she repeats, skeptical.

“I have a lot of homework. We’re learning the alphabet and ‘W’ is really hard.”

Matt is quick in his shower. When he gets out, Karen is blowing on a cup of tea for herself and the tiny little hurricane they made together is sitting on the counter with her own mug of warm milk.

“God, you look more like our dad every day”, Karen is saying.

“Do I?” she asks while Matt kisses Karen. “Uncle Foggy says I look like you, mommy.”

“You have my eyes, but the rest is all dad.”

“Miss Evans says he’s really handsome. Does that mean I’m handsome, too?”

Matt is laughing while Karen straightens up.

“Oh, she does, huh? She said that to you, that your dad is handsome?”

“No, not to me. I heard her talking to Mrs. Pang.”

“Drink your milk, baby”, Matt instructed, getting a cookie from the jar for himself.

“So does that mean I’m handsome too?”

“You, my love, are the most beautiful girl in the world.”

She must have found that really funny, because she laughed, so much like Karen, that same pitch.

“How do you know that, daddy? You can’t see me.”

“Oh, you don’t think I know what my daughter looks like? Hmm?” he joked, moving to touch her face, and she closed her eyes, like she did since before she could sit up on her own. “I know every little detail of you, teddy bear, don’t you ever forget that.”

“How do you know, though?”

“Ok, that’s enough questioning for tonight”, Karen decided, putting her mug in the sink and moving to get her from the counter.

“No, but mommy!” came the protest.

“No buts. You have school tomorrow. Say goodnight to your father, you have to go to bed, now.”

“Daddy, tuck me in, please, please!”

“Daddy is tired, honey.”

“Please, please, daddy!”

“It’s ok”, he said, trying not to laugh at all the drama, kissing Karen quickly before lifting the small one in his arms, succeeding in hiding the wince this time. “Say ‘goodnight, mommy’.”

“Goodnight, mommy.”

She leaned in and kissed Karen on the cheek, who returned it with a caress on the chubby face.

“Good night, my love. Sweet dreams.”

He walked with her to the smaller bedroom, once again kicking the little ambulance, “911! 911!” echoing in the apartment.

“When are you teaching me braille?” she asked once she was in bed and Matt was tucking her in.  

“As soon as you learn to read a few more words in school.”

“Promise?”

“I promise. You go to sleep now.”

With a kiss to her forehead and a quick prayer, he left her nightlight on and got up to leave.

“Daddy?”

“Yes, baby?”

“Try not to get hurt anymore, ok?”

He smiled.

“I’ll try. Now sleep. Say your prayer.”

“I will. Good night.”

“Good night, love.”

He lied down on his own bed, sighing, clutching his side, massaging a little of the pain away. He was sore. Claire was gonna make him take some pills, he just knew it.

“I put your mask away”, Karen said, coming to lie by his side, getting under the covers. “You left it on the couch.”

“Oh, thanks. Sorry, she didn’t really give me a chance to hide it.”

With a sigh, she moved and touched his face, supporting her weight on her elbow, looking down at him.

“She’s really smart.”

“Curious. Just like you.”

“Stubborn. Like you.”

“Oh, I’m the stubborn one?”

With a smile he knew she liked, he closed his eyes, moving his hand until he reached her leg, pulling it over him, making her drop to kiss him and then lie with her head on his chest.

“She’s gonna give us trouble, that one.”

“Well”, Karen sighed, adjusting, careful with his wounds. “She’s our daughter. Trouble is probably in her DNA.”

.:.

He got to the office after court and smiled. The baby shampoo scent of her hair took up almost the whole office.

“Hi Vic”, he greeted the secretary who sat on her desk. “Any news here?”

“Hi. No, everything is normal. The little one is in, she’s with Mr. Nelson. How was it in court?”

He smiled and raised his brows, hanging his coat by the door, and the young woman tapped her desk. “You won! That’s great! Congratulations!”

“Thank you. Are there any messages?”

“Not for today, no. Mr. Rand called, to confirm your meeting tomorrow, but that’s it.”

“Ok. You have the notes on the case?”

“I do, they’re on your desk.”

“Thanks. You can go, now, if you want. I imagine Foggy is also done?”

“He is. They’ve been reading for half an hour, now.”

He walked to the conference room and smiled at the scene even before he opened the door: Foggy and kid were sitting by the big table, Matt’s daughter boosted by books and files, a book closed in front of her.

“Ssss…. She… Sheer… lock. Sheerlock?” that little voice bounced off the walls.

“This one is a little different. Sherlock. It’s a name”, Foggy instructed, sweetly.

“Ok. The adventures of Sherlock… Ho… Hol-mes. Holmes.”

“That’s right.”

“The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes!”

“Yes! Oh my God, you’re so good at this!”

They high-fived and she giggled.

“What are we doing?” Matt said, walking inside.

“Daddy! Look, I can read this, now!”

Sitting on the chair by her side, Matt pressed a kiss on her head and waited as she got ready to read the rest of the cover.

“This book is ‘The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes’. The… Com…plate… Complete! Ill-us-tra-ted sssho- short stooor-y-es. Storyes? Stories! The Complete Illustrated Short Stories!”

“Oh my God, she did it!” Foggy celebrated, over the top as ever, both arms up in cheers.

“That’s amazing, honey”, Matt praised. “But isn’t this book too big? Shouldn’t you start with something smaller?”

She told him that the books her teacher used in class were not very good. “Very silly”, were her words, so she asked Foggy for a better one.

“And you went with British literature?”

“It was the only non-legal book I had handy”, said his friend.

“Daddy I can learn braille, now! I know all the letters and a bunch of words!”

“We’ll see”, he said, putting her on the floor and getting her coat off the back of the chair.

When the three of them left the office, she was perched on Foggy’s shoulders, reading every sign she could while they walked towards his and Karen’s place.

“Pet-sho- Oh! A pet shop!” she pointed while they passed one and Matt pulled on Foggy’s arm to make him walk faster. He did not need her begging for a kitty or a puppy right now. “Daddy!”

“Who’s hungry?”

She read them all the items on the big menu inside the burger place they chose to have dinner, insisting on placing the order herself.

“So, guess what?” Foggy started once they were seated in a booth. “You’re gonna be a godfather.”

Matt took a second, then raised his brows in surprise.

“What?! Oh my God, man, congratulations!”

“What is it?” the peanut asked while Matt and Foggy got up to share a hug. “What’s going on?”

“Uncle Foggy’s gonna have a baby!”

They explained that aunt Marci was pregnant, that it meant she was gonna have a new friend, but it was gonna take a little time for them to get here.

“So”, she asked, mouth full of burger, after they were all sitting down again. “How do you make a baby?”

After five seconds of stunned silence, Foggy burst out in laughter and Matt sighed.

Five years old. He figured he would have at least a few more years until he had to have that conversation.


End file.
